This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Toronto Blue Jays have to prove they’re worth the hype

While the Toronto Blue Jays look like winners on paper, manager John Gibbons knows that doesn’t necessarily translate into wins.

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons spoke to the media Tuesday after the the team's morning workout. (RICK MADONIK / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

By Mark ZwolinskiSports Reporter

Thu., Feb. 14, 2013

DUNEDIN—Jays manager John Gibbons usually has a smile on his face as he walks about the practice fields at spring training here.

It’s obvious he is very pleased with the opportunity he has to manage the Jays a second time in his career, and with the fact that on this venture GM Alex Anthopoulos has assembled a star-studded roster for him to oversee.

If John Farrell left Toronto for his “dream job” in Boston, Gibbons may have landed the dream job in all of baseball for 2013.

Gibbons, though, quickly points out all the big names and high promise is simply on paper for now. The team must “take care of business,” and a quick start to the season is the talk of camp now.

“Well, getting off to a quick start is going to be important for us,” Gibbons said. “You have to shoot for that, getting hot right off the start.”

Article Continued Below

That hot start would also trigger what many observers believe will be a resurrection of the sold-out stadium in Toronto that was a nightly occurrence when the club won back-to-back World Series in 1992-93.

With all the fever around the club, there’s even talk of attendance hitting 3 million this season for the first time since those championship days.

The club will only say that ticket sales have been brisk ever since the excitement began with the mid-November blockbuster trade with the Marlins.

While it is widely expected attendance will be increased, the real gauge of interest will come in the games after Opening Day. Those games traditionally see a dramatic dip in turnstile numbers after the hype of the first game is gone.

A quick start would obviously help keep interest piqued.

“We have talked about that in here (clubhouse),” Jays outfield Jose Bautista said of the fast start. “Obviously, that’s something you want to do and every team wants to do. We have to focus on getting ourselves ready to play good baseball right off the start.”

Gibbons cautioned against expectations of instant success simply because the Jays have so many proven, quality players on the 25-man roster. While it’s brought a high level of excitement to Toronto, there are recent examples of star-studded lineups failing to make the post season; Anaheim and Los Angeles fell into that situation in 2012.

“There have been teams with lots of talent that didn’t win the way they were supposed to,” Gibbons said.

“You look at the Dodgers last year, they picked up some great players (Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett among others last August), and they didn’t make the playoffs. We are trying to get a message across to our team that we need to focus on the business at hand. We’re great on paper you can say, but you have to take it to the field, people have to do their jobs, and things will take care of themselves after that.”

Gibbons says he is likely assemble his rotation and starting nine according to the talent he has on tap.

For instance, he has mentioned that R.A. Dickey is likely to get the Opening Day start — “a 20-game winner, Cy Young Award, he deserves it,” Gibbons said.

The lineup is likely to see Jose Reyes lead off, Melky Carbrera bat second, followed by Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Brett Lawrie, in the power slots.

Lawrie, though, may bat lower. Gibbons said he has options from the fourth slot down to ninth, and could alternate all the way down with left- and right-handed hitters.

That will be decided as spring training unfolds, and games begin next Friday.

The excitement, though, is already high.

“We like that, you want that around your team, and to be part of that,” Gibbons said. “I think we have the right combination of guys here who have been on winning teams and know how to handle this. But we have to focus right away. You don’t win because you look good on paper.”

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com